Existing medication used in HIV treatment could improve quality of life for patients

Dr. Renée Douville (Associate Professor, Biology) has been awarded a three-year, US$300,000 grant from The ALS Association (U.S.) to study the role that viruses in the human genome play in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The research will examine the use of market-available medication in treating symptoms of the neurodegenerative disease, which currently affects between 2,500 and 3,000 adult Canadians.

“It is with a profound sense of duty that our lab team is committed to the underlying research necessary to bring forward new treatment options for patients with ALS,” said Douville.

Douville’s lab has already discovered a link between the disease and endogenous retroviruses, a typically dormant group of viruses that make up eight per cent of human DNA. Once considered “junk DNA,” the viruses are now known to activate in patients with ALS, as well as neuropsychiatric diseases like schizophrenia.

The grant will allow Douville to further understand how the endogenous retrovirus-K (ERVK) contributes to ALS neuropathy and the exact damage it causes. The team will also be testing FDA-approved integrase inhibitors, which limit DNA damage caused by retroviruses, and are currently used as an effective treatment option for patients with HIV. Douville’s data suggests the use of them in ALS patients could reduce toxic forms of a protein within cells expressing ERVK — potentially slowing down tissue damage and improving their overall health.

Funding for the grant was made possible by proceeds generated from the Ice Bucket Challenge — a global phenomenon that helped raise awareness for ALS research in 2014. Since then, The ALS Association has committed over US$84 million towards research projects.

“The thought that so many people within the ALS community have gone to great (and chilly!) lengths to support our work motivates us every day,” said Douville.

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2 Comments

Derek SwinnardOctober 28, 2018said...

I was dx in 1997 but was seeing a homeopath that got rid of different viruses ( polio being one ) , bacteria and toxins for two years before dx. This would seem to concur with what Hulda Clarke wrote in her book ‘A Cure For All Diseases ‘. I still see her 4 or 5 times a year and test very clean. I golf, coach basketball, play guitar and workout. Not 100% but believe that progress has stopped and trying to regenerate still. She has also found that spider bites can be causative which would seem to support the Lyme theory. Anyway want to wish you luck and success in your study and let you know that others have investigated this approach as well.